Coyote vs. Acme Finally Hits Theatres After Shelving, Sale, and a Fan Campaign
Coyote vs. Acme opened in US theatres on 28 August 2026 — nearly four years after cameras stopped rolling and almost three years after Warner Bros. shelved the completed film. Director Dave Green celebrated the release on social media with a thank-you letter that declared, in his words, "WE WON" and congratulated everyone involved (The Hollywood Reporter).
The film is a hybrid live-action and animated feature set in the Looney Tunes universe. Wile E. Coyote sues the Acme Corporation after its products fail him in his pursuit of the Road Runner. The cast includes Will Forte, John Cena, Lana Condor, Eric Bauza, and Martha Kelly (The Hollywood Reporter).
The journey to this release day was anything but straight. The Hollywood Reporter exclusively revealed in November 2023 that Warner Bros. had shelved Coyote vs. Acme after production was finished. The studio, which had originally developed the picture as an HBO Max streaming original, elected not to release it at all. Reports at the time indicated Warner Bros. planned to take an estimated $30 million tax write-down — a bookkeeping move that lets a studio declare a finished film as a loss — against the roughly $70 million movie (The Hollywood Reporter).
In March 2025, Ketchup Entertainment acquired the worldwide distribution rights from Warner Bros. in a deal reportedly valued at around $50 million (The Hollywood Reporter). Live-action filming had wrapped back in May 2022, with Brandon Trost serving as cinematographer, meaning the picture sat in limbo for roughly four years before reaching a single cinema seat (Instagram — @coyotevsacme).
Green's letter thanked Ketchup Entertainment for "hearing the audience" and credited the audience's fight as the reason the film made it to the big screen (The Hollywood Reporter). AMC Theatres marked the occasion on its official Facebook page with the tagline, "His day in court has finally come" (AMC Theatres — Facebook).
Will Forte, who stars in the film, replied to Green's letter on X with two words: "Beautifully put, Dave." He also shared a video thanking people for their efforts to push for the movie's release and drew a line between the film's themes and its own real-world saga. Forte described the film's messages as being about hope, determination, fighting injustice, and the importance of friendship and community (The Hollywood Reporter).
Forte told The Hollywood Reporter that the glowing reviews for Coyote vs. Acme made it "feel like you're not crazy," and admitted, "I felt gaslit for a while" (Yahoo Canada). He also said he was shocked to hear that Ketchup Entertainment had saved the film and was sending it to theatres instead of leaving it on a shelf (The Hollywood Reporter — Facebook).
What makes this stand out is the sheer distance between completion and release. A finished film, a studio write-down, a third-party rescue, a fan campaign — and now, finally, a ticket you can buy.
